Tuesday, September 27, 2011

If you are a food
blogger, I know you can complete that sentence with 2-3 bloggers that
you admire. Not that you want to replicate their voice or style but
you would like to be their peer in terms of an entertaining style,
food knowledge, creativity, detail, and production quality.

For me, one of those
blogs is Steamy Kitchen. Jaden is a food blogging rock star and she
is an example of how to engage your audience. Almost everything I
know about food photography and styling, I learned either from SteamyKitchen, For The Love of Cooking, or SippitySup. [I hate to
disparage their good names by associating them with my
photo/styling skills, ha ha.]

Recipe adapted by Steamy Kitchen from
Seattle Kitchen, A Food Lover's Cookbook and Guide by Tom
Douglas. The chicken can be replaced with fish or even vegetables,
such as eggplant depending on your preferences.

Make Ahead: The marinade/glaze can be
made up to one week ahead of time and kept, tightly covered, in the
refrigerator.

1) To make the marinade/glaze, whisk
together the honey, oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic and red
pepper flakes.2) In a baking dish, resealable bag or container,
marinate the chicken in the glaze for 30 minutes.3) Grill or
broil the chicken, medium heat, on both sides until the skin is
crispy and juices run clear or the internal temperature reaches 165
degrees Fahrenheit, about 25-30 minutes. Be careful not to burn the
the chicken, the honey will char easily. Moving the chicken to a
cooler part of the grill, if grilling, or moving the chicken further
from the broiler, may be necessary.4) Serve chicken with a
squeeze of lemon.

I added ¼ cup mirin, 1 tsp of minced
ginger, 1 chopped green onion, and substituted lime juice because
that's what I had. Also, I was using hefty bone in chicken breasts
so I did a two stage cook.

The weather had been touch and go but
when WBIR's Todd Howell said the last of the storms had pretty much moved
through West Knox county, I pulled off the grill covers and lit a
half chimney (about 3 quarts) of Kingsford. Of course that made it
start raining again.

I grilled the breasts skin side down
over direct heat at 350f for 4-5 minutes just to get some initial
browning and grate marks.

4-5 min is a guide, check them often so you don't burn them.

Then I moved them from over the coals
and skin side up. I topped them with the strained bits from the
marinade and cooked them indirect until they reached 160f internal.
TIP: When I cook breasts indirect, I like to make sure that the
skinny, tapered end is facing away from the heat source so it doesn't
get all dried up.

Do the “indirect slide”

When grilling on a square grill like
this, I like to take out one of the grates so I can easily slide the
food closer to the coals as they start to die down near the end of
the cooking time. For example:

Grate slid away from the coals when they are fresh and hot.

As the coals die and cool down some, slide the grate closer and closer to them.

It took just over an hour for these
breasts to hit 160f. I could have gotten them done faster by staying
direct heat but I was inside stir frying and didn't want to burn the
chicken. I then cut the meat off of the bone, sliced into
medallions, and drizzled them with some extra sauce.

The sweet slightly smoky chicken was
devoured by adults and kids, it's a real crowd pleaser.

NASHVILLE FOOD BLOG FORUM

Speaking of Jaden...the Food Blog Forum
is bringing its show on the road to Nashville, TN on Saturday,
October 8th! I am looking forward to being a sponge and
absorbing everything I can at this seminar. Some of the biggest
names in the business will be sharing information on everything about
food blogging. There is still time to register (I should know, I'm
just registering tonight, ha ha).

Click HERE to see the event schedule,
more about the topics and presenters, and to register.

If you are going, please let me know so
we can make sure to meet in person.

18 comments:

That's funny because I JUST wrote that quote on someone's post recently! I thought I was being clever and coming up with it though... but I guess not lol! You are on that list of blogs that I wanna be like when mine grows up :)

I want to be just like you! You take the best pictures of chicken and steaks. I have a really good chicken recipe I can't post cause the pictures are horrendous. This honey soy glazed chicken is mouth-watering!

Oh my God you take the best food pictures! (Also, I posted yesterday a pic of the best roast beef sandwich in the world. Have you made anything similar? I tried to duplicate it at home but I think I should have covered the meat in fat which I found out is what this place does.

I'd put your blog in my blank, Chris. Man, your posts just keep getting better! Being a 2nd floor condo dweller, I long for the day when we move out to a place where I can have a grilling set up like you have over there!

This looks absolutely delicious! Good grief, Chris, your pictures make me drool as much or MORE than any other blog. I am consumed by grilling envy almost every time I check your site. Well, just to be perfectly honest, the tofu lasagna was more of a gag reflex. ha ha And since we're naming names, I've loved Pam's blog for as long as I've been reading food blogs!

How funny is that... my blog wants to be like your blog! Thanks for your sweet words my friend. Your photography skills are awesome and I learn stuff from you all the time. You are also the king of the smoker and the grill - I always feel like I am disappointing you when I use my grill pan.